How DeCloudUs compares to NextDNS, Control D and AdGuard DNS
They all filter DNS. Where they differ is price, how far the rules bend, and whether anything other than a dashboard can drive them.
The short version
| What to look for | DeCloudUs | Typical of the others |
|---|---|---|
| Fair pricing | Paid Premium is $0.50 and Premium Plus is $0.99 per month when billed annually | Paid plans start at double or even triple our prices. |
| Devices on one subscription | Unlimited | Often capped, or the cap is the plan |
| Queries per month | Unlimited | Commonly capped, then throttled or billed |
| Rules that change by time of day | A schedule swaps the whole policy — categories, services and rules together | Usually a schedule per blocked item, where it exists at all |
| Types of custom rule | Block, allow, rewrite and block-by-IP, each with wildcards and priority | Block and allow, sometimes with wildcards |
| API reaching everything the dashboard does | Every operation, query logs included — retrieval, analytics, retention and deletion | Partial more often than not, and logs are the usual omission |
| An assistant that makes the change | Dex edits the profile for you based on what you ask. | Generally a chat box over the documentation, which tells you which menu to open yourself |
| Driving it from your own AI | MCP, with OAuth scopes granted and revoked per connection | Usually not |
Fair pricing
- DeCloudUs
- Paid Premium is $0.50 and Premium Plus is $0.99 per month when billed annually
- Typical of the others
- Paid plans start at double or even triple our prices.
Devices on one subscription
- DeCloudUs
- Unlimited
- Typical of the others
- Often capped, or the cap is the plan
Queries per month
- DeCloudUs
- Unlimited
- Typical of the others
- Commonly capped, then throttled or billed
Rules that change by time of day
- DeCloudUs
- A schedule swaps the whole policy — categories, services and rules together
- Typical of the others
- Usually a schedule per blocked item, where it exists at all
Types of custom rule
- DeCloudUs
- Block, allow, rewrite and block-by-IP, each with wildcards and priority
- Typical of the others
- Block and allow, sometimes with wildcards
API reaching everything the dashboard does
- DeCloudUs
- Every operation, query logs included — retrieval, analytics, retention and deletion
- Typical of the others
- Partial more often than not, and logs are the usual omission
An assistant that makes the change
- DeCloudUs
- Dex edits the profile for you based on what you ask.
- Typical of the others
- Generally a chat box over the documentation, which tells you which menu to open yourself
Driving it from your own AI
- DeCloudUs
- MCP, with OAuth scopes granted and revoked per connection
- Typical of the others
- Usually not
Compared against NextDNS, Control D and AdGuard DNS as they stood on September 2026. The right-hand column is how the category generally behaves, not a claim about any one of them in particuliar on any given day. The left-hand column is ours and is true as this page is served.
Value, paying the least for the best
DeCloudUs is the cheapest of the four by a wide margin, and the gap is not marginal enough to argue about. Our Premium Plus, which gives you all of our advanced features, is about 50% cheaper than the least expensive comparable plan elsewhere does. Our prices are not affordable because we lack features; rather, our prices are lower to extend the benefits of privacy and control to as many users as possible.
Compared against the others’ published annual pricing on in September 2026. Everyone changes these, so check the current figures before you decide with each service.
An AI assistant that DOES what you ask, not just explains it
Several providers now offer a chat box that they call "AI assistant". Most of them are documentation search with a conversational front end: ask one to block an app on a child’s tablet and it tells you which menu to open. But not DeCloudUs DNS.. we have Dex, a true AI assistant.
Dex helps you manage your DNS profiles by simply asking it in plain English and makes the changes for you. That is a different category of product from a chatbot pointed at a manual, and it is the question worth asking of any assistant: can it do it, or only describe it?
An API with the same reach as the dashboard
Plenty of services publish an API. The thing to check is whether it reaches everything the dashboard does, because the gaps are rarely advertised.
Every operation in the DeCloudUs dashboard has an API route behind it: profiles, rules and schedules in full, category, service and safe-search toggles, DNS tests, account and token management — and query logs, including retrieval, analytics, retention settings and deletion. The same surface is exposed over MCP with OAuth scopes you grant and revoke per connection.
Ask a provider you are considering if they are API-native, meaning every single functionality availabile in the dashboard is also available via API. It is a short question and the answer is informative either way.
Six questions worth asking whoever you choose
Including us. Each is short to ask and the answer tells you more than a feature list does.
What are the subscription limits?
Every service provider has some limits whether on number of DNS profiles, devices, query limits, or custom rules. DeCloudUs subscription comes with unlimited devices and unlimited queries, but we do have limits on number of DNS profiles and custom rules. You can always add more DNS profiles with Premium Plus and if you ever need more than 1,000 custom rules, please reach out to us.
Do DNS profile rules change by time of day?
Schedules move a profile between policies by time of day and day of week, applied at the resolver so every device on it follows at once. This is different than scheduling the blocking of one service or category like others offer. DeCloudUs DNS allows you to apply completely different DNS profile block and allow rules on schedule.
How expressive are custom rules?
Four rule types: block, allow, rewrite and block-by-IP — with wildcard matching for all of them. With these advanced rule types, there is not a thing you cannot do with DeCloudUs DNS
Can something other than the dashboard drive it?
DeCloudUs exposes every dashboard operation over both a REST API and MCP, with OAuth scopes granted and revoked per connection. Ask whether a rival API covers everything its dashboard does and whether an AI assistant can easily manage your DNS profiles.
What is logged, and who decides the retention?
Logging is off until you switch it on, you choose how long entries are kept, and you can delete the log outright. This is the question to press hardest on with anyone, because the answer is rarely on the pricing page.
Where do the resolvers run, and can you choose?
Resolvers run globally, with Premium Plus letting you pin the region rather than accepting whatever anycast decides. Latency and data jurisdiction both follow that choice.
Whether it is for you
Where it fits well
- Someone who wants customized DNS blocking to help enhance privacy and security.
- A household where people or devices need different blocking rules from each other.
- DNS blocking that stays with you inside and outside your home.
- Anyone who wants easy custom DNS setup and management by just expressing what they need in English words
Where it is the wrong choice
- You want a fast resolver and no control over it. Cloudflare and Quad9 do that for nothing, and there is no reason to pay anyone, us included.
- You would rather run it yourself. Pi-hole and AdGuard Home are free and the query log never leaves your house — at the cost of coverage once a device leaves the network, and the maintenance is yours.
The parental controls page covers the household case, and setup covers connecting whatever you own. The trial needs an email address and no card, so the cheapest way to settle any of this is to try it.